Blog Post: Should Natural Disaster Victims Be Offered Safe Haven and Opportunity Abroad?

(Center for Global Development) October 27, 2010 – Last week, I hosted a roundtable here at CGD to discuss how the United States and other rich countries might better provide safe haven and opportunity to potential migrants from developing countries that are in acute need—particularly the victims of natural disasters. This question has been at the […]

News: Fleeing Disaster Can Be a Good Thing

(IRIN) March 30, 2010 – JOHANNESBURG, The hapless people flooding ports and airport terminals in developed countries are occasionally seen as “environmental migrants” or even “environmentally induced migrants”, fleeing natural disasters in their part of the world. Now, some countries have begun turning this displacement into a positive learning experience by providing such migrants with […]

UNHCR’s Perspective on Climate Displacement

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has recently updated their policy paper entitled Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective, which was originally released October 2008. The 14-page paper looks at the human side of climate change, particularly the status and protection needs of those who are most directly affected. […]

New Oxfam Report Warns of 75 Million Asia-Pacific Environmental Migrants

(Oxfam Australia) July 27, 2009 – An Oxfam Australia report published today highlights the urgent need for next week’s Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns to address the dramatic effects of climate change within the region. The Future is Here: Climate Change in the Pacific finds that Pacific Islanders are already feeling the effects of climate […]

How to Halt Desertification

Desertification is estimated to affect over 2 billion people in 140 countries if left unchecked, many of whom would be forced to move hundreds of miles to find usable land. So how do we stop desertification? The UN Dispatch says: Build a wall made out of sand and bacteria! Build a giant wall. 6,000 kilometers […]

New Zealand Needs to Take Leadership Role on Climate Change

(Green Party of NZ) July 22, 2009 – Green Party MP Kennedy Graham today challenged Prime Minister John Key to lead the way on climate change response in the Pacific. “New Zealand should take a leadership role on protecting our Pacific neighbours from the disproportionate burden of climate change they bear. We have a regional […]